Duties

Summary

This Senior Executive Service (SES) position is located in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), Office of Pesticide Programs, Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division. If selected, you must work at the location stated in this announcement. About OCSPP: https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/about-office-chemical-safety-and-pollution-prevention-ocspp

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Responsibilities

The function of the Office of Pesticide Programs' (OPP) Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division (BPPD) is to streamline the registration and reregistration processes for biological pesticides, develop and implement policies and guidelines and regulatory strategies for biological pesticides, and coordinate and advocate for pesticide pollution prevention programs within EPA and with governmental and private institutions. BPPD oversees reregistration of biological pesticides, which includes microbial, biochemical and other naturally occurring pesticides that meet the criteria for reduced data sets and transgenic plant pesticides, pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). BPPD coordinates of pesticide pollution prevention activities and has responsibility for all regulatory activities for biological pesticides.

Responsibilities of the Director include:

• Coordinating and directing registration of FIFRA, Section 3 and establishing tolerances for residues under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for biological pesticides.
• Coordinating pesticide pollution prevention activities for OPP.
• Defining major program objectives, estimating required resource levels, and reviewing and evaluating ongoing program activities.
• Ensuring the coordination of and participating in planned programs with related or interdependent efforts with other offices in OPP, and the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
• Representing the BPPD and coordinating efforts with other major offices of the Agency on all subject areas within the purview of the Division.
• Representing the programs of the Division at Agency meetings, and/or to external organizations such as the Congress.
• Providing scientific, technical, and administrative advice and information on areas of responsibility to the Director and/or Deputy Director for OPP, other Agency officials, other government agencies, and outside organizations.
• Participating on Agency, interagency, and/or other technical and scientific committees.
• Ensuring that management and staff adhere to Agency contract management policies and procedures.
• Participating in the planning, budgeting, prioritizing, scheduling, and utilization of money and materials necessary to effectively support people, programs, and policy implementation for major program areas for which the Division is responsible.
• Coordinating personnel management activities of the Division.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
00

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen.
• You must submit resume and required documents (see How to Apply section).
• If you are selected, a pre-employment background check is required.
• You may be required to travel 1 to 5 days per month.

If you are selected, you must complete a 1-year SES probationary period, if not previously completed.

The Ethics in Government Act, P.L. 95-521, requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a financial disclosure statement, OGE-278, prior to assuming the SES position, annually, and upon termination of employment.

This position is designated as High Risk and requires a background investigation. Unless an appropriate background investigation is already on record with the Office of Personnel Management, you must undergo a background investigation.

Qualifications

The work of this position is classified in the Program Management, 0340 series where the qualifications include both general management skills and characteristics that are applicable to all SES positions and technical or program responsibilities specific to this position. Applicants must have substantive general experience which provides a good basic or general knowledge of the principles of organization, management and administration; and substantive specialized (operating administrative or managerial) experience in a type of work or a combination of functions directly related to this position.

All applicants must have one year of specialized experience at a level close to the work of this job that demonstrates the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform in this role. Typically this experience can be found in work within this field or a field that is closely related.

As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service, applicants must also provide evidence of progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below.

A. Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Mandatory for competitive applicants - Failure to address these factors will result in your application being disqualified, unless you are a noncompetitive eligible applicant.

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE. Involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.
ECQ 2 - LEADING PEOPLE. Involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.
ECQ 3 - RESULTS DRIVEN. Involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
ECQ 4 - BUSINESS ACUMEN. Involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS. Involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.

Your responses should be clear and concise and show a level of accomplishment and a degree of responsibility. Leadership competencies for each ECQ can be found at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf

B. Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Mandatory for all applicants - Failure to address these factors will result in your application being disqualified.

TQ 1 - Demonstrated experience in managing and directing a diverse organization consisting of technical and policy staff in various disciplines, as well as staff in other occupations, to support regulatory programs.

TQ 2 - Demonstrated experience initiating action, effectively integrating diverse information, and addressing complex problems and issues to support regulatory programs.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

It is anticipated that the duty station of this position will change to Washington, DC, during the recruitment period for this announcement or shortly after.

If you are selected, travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid by EPA. Any travel, transportation, and relocation expenses associated with reporting to work in this position will be your responsibility.

This position has portable work. If selected for this position, you may be authorized to telework after meeting eligibility requirements if approved by the supervisor/manager. Telework is available based on agency policy. NOTE: The agency is currently utilizing maximum telework flexibilities due to COVID. Once normal operations resume, you will be required to report to the location stated in this announcement.

EPA participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that enables participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. For additional information: EPA Announcement Policies and Procedures .

Veterans' preference is not applicable to the Senior Executive Service

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values at EPA. Our excellence can only be fully realized by staff who share our commitment to these values. Successful candidates are committed to advancing equity and inclusion in the Agency's workplace and mission. We encourage applications from candidates with a variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and required documents to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet basic qualification requirements, your application will be evaluated based on your narrative statements addressing the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Technical Qualifications (TQs). It will then be forwarded to a three member Rating Panel consisting of SES members for further review. The Rating Panel will decide which Best Qualified applicants will be issued to the Selecting Official by the Human Resources Office.

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Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Not Required

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Documents to be submitted online:

NOTE: You should ensure your social security number, date of birth, and any other personal information are redacted.

-- Resume clearly stating your experience related to this position as described in the Duties section and Qualifications section. In describing your experience, you need to be clear and specific. We may not make assumptions regarding your experience.

-- A narrative statement covering each of following:

• Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) - Required for competitive applicants - Address each of the five factors individually within a limit of ten pages total. Exceeding this limit will result in disqualification of your application.
• Technical Qualifications (TQs) - Required for all applicants - Address each listed factor individually within a limit of two pages per factor. Exceeding this limit will result in disqualification of your application.

Your examples should use the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) model to emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments with results of your actions, policy initiatives and level of contacts. Additional information on the proper preparation of ECQ statements and the CCAR model is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf

-- Senior Executive Service (SES) noncompetitive applicants: If you are currently serving under a career SES appointment, are eligible for reinstatement into the SES, or have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program approved by OPM, proof of SES noncompetitive eligibility must be submitted:

• SF-50 showing your status as a:
  
  • current Career SES appointee,
  • former Career SES appointee with career SES reinstatement eligibility, or
  • current or reinstatement eligible Career SES-equivalent executive who is/was employed in a Federal government agency that has an interchange agreement with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) allowing for movement between the agency's SES-equivalent personnel system and the SES; OR
• A certificate of completion from an OPM-approved SES Candidate Development Program (CDP). This applies only if your ECQs have been approved by an OPM Qualifications Review Board through the SES CDP.

You are not required to submit a narrative statement addressing the ECQs, but are encouraged to do so.

To learn more about submitting documentation, visit Uploading Documents to USAJOBS .